Dark Days, Doctor
by RebeccaWatsonPond
Summary: River arrives with the promise of imminent darkness in the Doctor's future. What will this mean for them? After all, the anger of a Timelord is a terrible thing... Based before Angels Take Manhattan.
1. She Comes With Warnings

The message came out of nowhere, as per usual, but the Doctor obeyed like he always would. A set of co-ordinates and a few words which told him all he needed to know - she'd been jumping off buildings again. He sighed as he opened the TARDIS doors and watched her fall through the night sky of 1919. He caught her, she smiled, and they shared a brief but awkward kiss which had somehow worked its way into their usual routine.

"Evening, Sweetie," she said, straightening the long red dress she'd decided on tonight. Slipping off the dark coat she was wearing, she rested against the console and raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Still wearing that old thing?" she asked, nodding at his general attire.

"Yes. It's all very cool," he replied, straightening his bow-tie defensively before turning to close the TARDIS doors. When he turned around again, he saw River wincing as she tried to stand properly. "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly alarmed by the pain on her face; it wasn't like her to show weakness.

"Nothing, nothing," she responded quickly, "I'll be fine." She forced a smile but her agony was still visible through her cheery mask. Beneath that brave facade there was a broken woman.

"Rubbish," the Doctor replied, almost running to her side. He helped her to a chair before questioning her again. "River, what did you do? What were you running from up there?" She laughed in response, which only caused her to wince again and her hand went to her side.

"Oh it was nothing," she replied, grimacing as she adjusted her self. As she pulled her hand away from her side, the Doctor grabbed it.

"River, please just-" he began, but River silence him with a shake of her head. She pulled her hand away from his and he turned his own palm towards him to notice something not right. Blood. "River!" he exlaimed, his hands returning instinctively to her side. "River, what did this?" he asked, using his regeneration energy to heal her wound. She noticed what he was doing and tried to protest, but she was too weak to fight him off.

"You shouldn't be doing that," she warned, a look of disappointment on her face. "You can't go around using up your lives to save me. It's not how it works." As grateful as she was to feel her strength returning, she was annoyed that he'd done this to her again.

"I'm not going to lose you," he said, "now tell me what did this!" His voice was louder than expected and, still feeling a little shaken up from her injury, River failed to hide her shock.

"I can't tell you, Doctor, this isn't how it's supposed to-"

"Damn it, River!" he interrupted, almost yelling. "I felt how much energy that took out of me to heal you - God knows it wasn't just a flesh wound. You could have died tonight, so don't go playing your little timeline games with me. What did this?!" This outburst of rage was strongly out of character for the Doctor, and River felt an unwanted sense of fear run through her. She was unsure what to do, so matched his anger.

"Okay, you really want to know? You did this, Doctor! You had a bad day and you shot me! I guess now we know why you have so many rules," she was crying now, and she was embarrassed She turned away from him and stood up to walk away, but a hand caught her wrist. She looked back around to a white-faced Timelord.

"I...," he wanted to talk and ask questions, but his voice failed him. He felt sick. Sometime in the future he was going to have a day so bad it was going to cause him to shoot the woman he loved and that scared him. "I wouldn't do that," he finally managed, looking up at her through heartbroken eyes.

"Oh you have no idea," River retorted, hate flowing through her instead of the pity she should probably be feeling. "You're a violent man, Doctor."

"No, I-"

"Oh don't even try to argue, sweetie. It's obvious. You've wiped out races and yet you still protest that you're innocent? What makes it worse is that you always say it's not your fault and you can get away with it. You just use the power of words and make people hate themselves and each other to the point of extinction. What gives you that right?!" She wasn't even shouting now, but the disgust in her voice was strong and she didn't know where it was coming from.

"Hang on a minute!" The Doctor yelled, standing and matching her emotion. "I was in the heart of the Time War. I watched my entire race burn and die before my eyes knowing there was nothing I could do. I had to turn my back on my own people and I've had to carry that knowledge with me ever since. If anyone here has that right, Professor River Song, it's most definitely me. So don't be getting mad now because of something I haven't even done yet."

"You can't just say that! Look, if we're going to play the sob story card then fine, my go. I spent years in the highest security prison imaginable for the murder of the man I loved. Your murder. A murder that I didn't even commit, but I said that I did to prevent time collapsing. That's right, Doctor, I saved time for you. You knew how long I was going to be in there, but you took your damn time coming for me. Not to mention the frequent flirting with, and I note, abnormally attractive companions along the way. You just go flying around, messing everything up and I have to clean up after you. You just can't keep your nose out of history, can you Timelord?"

"Oh I mess everything up? I'm not the one that goes jumping off of buildings every week! What do you even do when I'm not there, River? Just generally cause havoc?"

"You know nothing about me."

"Yeah, well maybe that's our problem," the Doctor lowered his voice, and turned away. He'd never felt so angry in a long time and with the promise of hurting her in the future, he didn't want to risk things now. He took deep breaths before speaking again. "I don't know you at all." Their eyes met for a brief moment that felt like hours for the both of them. River turned away first, and changed the conversation in an attempt to block out the argument that had just gone on.

"Anyway, that's not why I'm here," she said, standing with her back to the Timelord.

"No, you're here because I'm going to shoot you," he mumbled, sitting back down, grateful to feel that his anger was leaving him. The anger of a Timelord is a terrible thing.

"No, I'm here because..." River took a deep breath," Because I'm sorry."

"What? Don't say sorry. Sorry for what? What's going on?"

"Nothing now, dear. But later." The Doctor sighed in response.

"Why must you taunt me, River?"

"I'm not taunting you, Doctor," she turned around again, finally having enough confidence to look him in the eye. "I'm warning you." The Doctor sighed again and placed his head in his hands.

"Oh I hate you. I hate this. Why must there always be something dark in my future that you've already suffered through?!" he stood with annoyance.

"Because a certain someone messed up our timelines," she said, risking a smirk, "and because you're a wandering traveler. A man with no home. The lonely God. What else did you expect but imminent darkness? You've been about a bit, sweetie. Made a few enemies."

"A few allies too," the Doctor returned, "I'll just run. I always run and I always get away."

"Not this time, dear. You can run all you like, but you won't be running to safety."

"What? River, you're not making sense!"

"Oh, Doctor. When will you ever learn? You can't run away this time because... you're running straight into it." The Doctor gulped and blinked at her, trying to comprehend what she was saying.

"Well that... That sounds awfully careless of me."

"Doctor, you're not taking this seriously enough! I hate to be the continuous bringer of dramatic suspense in your life but that's all I can say. Dark days are coming, Doctor. And you better be ready when they do." She walked towards him, a sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry about earlier... And I'm sorry about later. But I'm not sorry about now." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, her breath tickling his ear. "Good luck, sweetie," she whispered before reaching for her wrist and using the Vortex Manipulator to vanish back to her cell, leaving the Doctor to ponder on his future.


	2. Swan Song

Two days had passed in the TARDIS since River's warning, and the Doctor still had no idea what it was that he was supposedly running towards. So he stopped. He had flown the TARDIS into the Time Vortex and stayed there for a while, thinking that if he wasn't going anywhere, he couldn't exactly get into trouble. But as soon as he had thought of this plan, it was ruined by an incoming message.

Sighing, he pulled out his psychic paper and flipped it open to reveal a date and a Gallifreyan symbol. The Doctor staggered backwards, dropping the message and nearly collapsing. His face went pale and he looked as if he was going to be sick. His gaze was drawn to the paper that lay abandoned on the floor, and his eyes traced the circular patter of the word. He crouched down to retrieve it - to examine it closer and to make sure he wasn't mistaken about the meaning of the symbol. He wasn't. As he looked up, he saw that the message was also visible on the TARDIS monitor and his fears were confirmed. It was the Gallifreyan symbol of death.

The Doctor panicked, pure fear running though him like never before. He felt anger, too. Anger towards River and how she hadn't overstated enough the darkness of his future. He shut off the monitor in his frustration and set the TARDIS' coordinates to the Stormcage Containment Facility, finding the sudden need to talk to his dearest wife.

He arrived silently, remembering to take the brakes off even though he loved that vworp vworp sound, and he marched out of the TARDIS straight into River's cell. He saw her sleeping on the small mattress she had for a bed and coughed gently to wake her up. River, who had always been a light sleeper, opened her eyes and rolled over.

"Hello sweetie," she smiled, sitting up, "I've been expecting you." The Doctor, who was in no mood for such frivolities, got straight to business.  
"What's going to happen, River?" he asked, his voice hollow and dark. River stood up, confused, and walked towards him.  
"What's going to happen when?" she asked, straightening his bow-tie as she spoke.

"Then. You came to me two days ago and you told me there was an 'imminent darkness' in my future, and I was running straight to it. What am I running to, River?" he asked again, this time his voice was a little more forceful and she stepped back.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she began. The Doctor showed signs of interrupting but she carried on. "I'm obviously going to know later and I very obviously knew then, but I don't know now and that's the problem." The Doctor cursed under his breath and closed his eyes.  
"Life of a time traveler," he almost whispered.

"We never seem to meet in the right order," River finished. She kissed him on the cheek and returned to her mattress where she pulled out her diary. "But there is one thing I do know that I can tell you," she said. The Doctor looked up at her, hopeful. "There's an old legend. They call it the Swan Song." As soon as the hope had appeared on his face, it was replaced with a look of dismay. "They say a swan stays mute its entire life and only before it's death does it sing a beautiful but mournful melody. Well the skies are singing, Doctor. And they're calling for you."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, noticing his own fear being reflected back in her face. Tears threatened to fall from River's eyes and he merely nodded before walking solemnly back to the TARDIS. He closed the door lent against it, letting his whole body fall to the floor as he himself lost the battle of holding back tears. Through cloudy eyes he saw that the message he had received earlier had appeared back on the TARDIS monitor. He didn't move from where he was slumped on the floor but shouted at the screen. "What do you even mean?! Is it my death? Am I going to die?! I'm not ready for this! I don't want to go!" he whimpered, resting his head on his knees. The silence of the empty TARDIS was anything but comforting but he soon fell asleep, still crying and slightly shaking, the symbol of death floating around in his imagination.


	3. Popping to the Ponds'

When the Doctor woke up, something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he could tell that there was something not quite right in the TARDIS. He sat up, ran a hand through his hair and tweaked his bowtie whilst scanning the control room for any obvious physical differences. None. There was nothing visually wrong with the TARDIS. So the Doctor listened. And that's when he noticed it. The usual dull but rhythmic thudding was there, but there was something else; something new. There was a high-pitched melody intermingling with the cacophony of the universe that the Doctor usually heard, and it unnerved him. It sent a shiver down his spine as if he'd heard that sound somewhere before but he couldn't quite place it. Shaking his head, he decided he needed a break from all this gloom and doom - it was driving him mad. Well, more mad than he already was. So he decided to visit the Ponds.

"Doctor!" exclaimed Amy, dropping the dish she was currently drying up and running towards the TARDIS that had just materialised in her kitchen. Rory skillfully dove and caught the falling dish before it had chance to hit the ground as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and collided with the fiery red head.

"The Ponds!" he laughed, hugging his best friend and nodding at Rory who was beaming.

"Doctor," he began, walking forward for a hand-shake. "Haven't seen you in a wh-"

"RORY THE ROMAN!" The Doctor interrupted, pulling him in for a hug too. Amy laughed as Rory cringed and awkwardly patted him on the back.

"So what's up?" Amy asked as her husband broke apart the hug and attempted to recover from the assault.

"Hm? What? Nothing! Why does something have to be up for me to come see you? No, nothing's up, just a house call," the Doctor lied, talking quickly. The Ponds looked at each other disbelievingly.

"Right," Rory said, patting the Doctor on the shoulder. "Whatever you say." The Doctor shrugged the hand away, annoyed.

"Okay, okay, there may be something slightly, er, 'up'..." he muttered, his mind returning briefly to River's warning. "But that doesn't matter! What's up with you two? Haven't seen you in-"

"192 days," Amy finished. "You haven't been to visit in over half a year." The Doctor stared at her and Rory awkwardly returned to the sink where he resumed washing up. The two stood there, eyes locked, the silence of the situation weighing down on both of them.

"Blimey," the Doctor muttered with a low whistle. "A hundred and...?"

"92," Amy repeated. She smiled sadly. "Yeah, I've been counting."

Sighing, the Doctor looked down at his feet and closed his eyes. 192 days. He'd completely neglected his best friends for the best part of 6 months, and he hadn't even realised. How long had he stayed holed up in his TARDIS, worrying about events he couldn't do anything to change? He looked back up, about to recommence conversation when Rory spoke.

"She's been to see us, by the way. River. Even she's managed to come say hi and she's in prison, so you better have a bloody good excuse," he said, disappointment threatening to come through in his voice.

"Well, yes actually, I do," he replied defensively. "I'm dying."


	4. Mistaken

"You're what?!" Amy exclaimed, eyes widening. Rory just blinked at him.

"Well, kind of. There's something going on in my future. Something big. And from what I could actually figure out from River dearest's cryptic clues, it's going to result in my death. So yeah, I've been a bit busy. I've been running."

"You're good at that," Rory pointed out, "keep doing it." The Doctor smiled at his suggestion but Amy wasn't having any of it.

"No no no no no no, just hang on a second Raggedy Man. You're not dying on my watch, no way. We can help, can't we, Rory? We can help you fight. We always have done. What is it this time? Fish-vampires? Angels?" The Doctor shook his head.

"I don't know. She won't tell me!" he cried, throwing his hands out in exasperation.

"Who's 'she'? The cat's mother?" asked a familiar voice behind him. The Doctor turned on the spot and saw River stood in the doorway of the Ponds' kitchen, a smug grin on her face. "Mum, Dad," she greeted, nodding to her parents, "and husband, dear," she added with a wink. "Isn't this cosy?"

"River!" The Doctor smiled, hugging his wife and planting a small kiss on her cheek.

"Haven't seen you in a whi-" Rory began, but Amy cut right through him.

"So what's this about The Doctor dying?" she asked.

"Amy! Please, don't-" Rory started, holding out a hand in protest, but his wife interrupted again.

"No, Rory. If The Doctor really is going to die and River knows more than she's letting on then so help me she's going to tell us. There is no way I'm letting him walk straight in to danger if there's something we can -"

"Mother, please stop," River said, sadness in her voice. "If I could help don't you think I would? I don't want him to die just as much as you. He is my husband, remember?"

"And he's also still here," The Doctor said, looking at his feet. Amy and River looked at him, shocked. "I've already spoken to her, Amy," The Doctor said, looking up at his friend. "She can't help. And even if she could, I wouldn't let her." River made to argue but he carried on. "Last time she tried to be the hero of the hour, she broke time and nearly ended the universe. I'm not really in the mood for that, thanks." River let out a small, sad laugh and tried to smile at Amy who was still looking pretty miserable. Rory stood forward.

"Hang on a minute. There's something that I don't quite understand," he looked at River. "You know what's going on in the future, yeah?" he asked. She nodded. "So that means you've already lived through it?" She nodded again. Rory looked at The Doctor then back at River. "So whatever happens, you still come out alive." Amy looked confused.

"What has that got to do with The Doctor?" Rory tried to answer, but River did it for him.

"What he's trying to ask is if I come out alive, why doesn't The Doctor," she said before turning to Rory. "You've got this all wrong. All of you have!" she explained, fiddling with the Vortex Manipulator on her wrist as she spoke. "I warned you about darkness. I warned you about the skies singing. I told you they were calling for you," she said, looking her husband in the eye. "I never said anything about your death." She smiled and with that smile she vanished, back to her cell in Stormcage.

"What did she mean, Doctor?" Amy asked, but The Doctor wasn't listening - he was too busy cursing himself. How could he be so stupid?! It wasn't him who was dying - it was the skies! The Swan Song legend said the_ swan_ sang before it died. It wasn't him who was singing, it was the skies! And they were calling for him because... Why? "Doctor, what did she mean?" she asked again.

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered. "But I promise you I'm going to find out."


	5. Messages of Madness

The Doctor hurried back into his TARDIS without so much of a goodbye to the Ponds and he ran to the console and started pressing buttons.

"Right, if the universe is singing," he said, talking to himself, "then I should be able to hear her more clearly than this. Come on, old girl, help me out!" he asked, and three levers at the opposite side of the console moved in unison. The high pitched sound that The Doctor had noticed earlier amplified and filled the room. "Thanks, dear," he said, stroking the console gratefully. He took a step back and lent against one of the railings of the control room and listened.

The music was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it, and that bothered him. He paced back and forth, listening to the repeating melody, searching his mind.

"What are you?" he asked nobody. "What could you possibly be?" He walked over to the monitor and flicked through some pages, trying to find anything that may jog his memory. Then he saw it again. That symbol. He'd forgotten all about it until now, but there it was - clear as the nose on his face. River may not have mentioned anything about his death, but that Gallifreyan symbol he had received said nothing but. He stared at it hard, as if that would some how tell him who sent it. Shaking his head, he turned off the monitor and noticed that the music had stopped and in its place was a dull thudding sound. "What is that?!" he remarked, flicking a few more switched. "Oh!" he exclaimed in realisation. "Incoming message. Er... Accept message?" he said, unsure whether the voice recognition system was still in place.

"Message accepted," a female voice said. The Doctor smiled to himself, glad that it still worked after all this time. "Message follows: 'Doctor. The sky is falling. We don't know how or why but it's happening. Just chunks of it, falling out of the sky. I know this sounds completely mad but it's true. We need you, Doctor! We need you now!' Message ends."

"Replay message!" The Doctor shouted, and he listened again. The voice was one he knew well, but it was filled with more fear than he had ever thought possible. Rory. "And again!" On listening to the message a third time, he heard something in the background that didn't quite make sense. "What is that?" he muttered.

"Invalid command," said the voice.

"Oh I know that!" he yelled. He asked for the message to be played a fourth time, but this time messed about with it a bit. He lowered the volume of the voice and amplified the background noise to full. His eyes widened. His mouth opened. He exhaled sharply, the realisation literally taking his breath away. The sound in the background was the same sound that the universe had been making, over and over. And it was just then that he realised where he had heard that sound before - so many times before. It hadn't hit him earlier because he hadn't been looking out for it but this time, he noticed it. The universe was echoing the sound of the TARDIS.


	6. Where There's Trouble, There's You

He gulped. Great, he thought, the world's going to end and it sounds like it's my fault. Again. He pulled up the message details on the monitor, locked the TARDIS coordinates to the same date and time of the message and flicked a lever. He held onto the console tight, the sound of the materialising TARDIS causing a slight feeling of nausea in his stomach. He landed. Walking slowly towards the doors, he tweaked his bow-tie and held his breath. He reached a hand out to the door, his fingers twitching reluctantly, and he pushed on the wood.

He opened the doors and instantly the sound of screaming filled his ears. He winced and closed the doors behind him, taking in the apocalyptic sight. There were people everywhere - running, cowering, crying. The Doctor looked up and only then did he fully understand Rory's message, not that he understood how he sent it. He could see the pale blue sky ahead, but it only carried on for a mile or so until it turned a darker, deeper blue and dipped down to meet the ground. He saw where the fallen sky had crushed houses and he hated to think how many deaths had been caused by it. He began to walk towards it when a familiar voice called him. He turned and saw the Ponds running towards him.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, hugging the Timelord and nearly knocking him off of his feet. "We knew you wouldn't abandon us!" The Doctor steadied himself and hugged her back.

"How did you know to come?" Rory asked, pulling his wife out of the hug so he could talk to him.

"You left a - Oh!" he smiled in realisation. "The TARDIS! She set up a psychic link! When you were calling for me, she picked up the signal and - Anyway, that's all irrelevant." He turned back to the sky. "That, however..."

"What is it, Doctor?" Amy asked. He shrugged in response.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, the TARDIS is slap bang in the middle of it." As if on cue, the TARDIS behind him shuddered and an orange light began to shine around it. The Doctor turned around just in time to see it dematerialising. "No no no no no!" he yelled, running towards it, but it was too late. He collapsed onto his knees and pounded the ground with his fists in defeat.

"That's not going to help, you know," said River's voice. He looked up.

"How come wherever there's trouble, there's you?" he asked, standing. River smirked.

"You can't have one without the other," she replied. She looked up and sighed. "What have you been doing here, Doctor?"

"This isn't my fault!" he shouted defensively. "I didn't -"

"Hush, dear," River said, "I'm working." She pressed some buttons on her Vortex Manipulator and inhaled deeply. "Well aren't you letting off some odd readings," she mumbled to herself. She turned to The Doctor. "Where's the TARDIS?" she asked. He nodded to the sky and she raised an eyebrow. "And you're telling me you had nothing to do with this..." Amy and Rory looked at her.

"Is there something you can do?" Rory asked. The Doctor coughed in disapprovingly.

"I am still here, you know!" he exclaimed. River smiled.

"Yes, sweetie, but you're way out of your depth here," she remarked. The Doctor scoffed. "And yes, Dad, there's something I can do. But it's dangerous." Amy stepped forward.

"Then let us help," she insisted.

"Sorry, no can do. I'm not risking your life," she turned and walked over to The Doctor. "Yours, on the other hand..." she winked and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Bye, Mum. I'll be back in time for tea." And with that, and many words of protest from The Doctor, she pressed yet another button on the gadget on her wrist and the two vanished. Rory sighed.

"She has got to stop doing that."


	7. Fixing It

"River, what the hell do you think you are doing?!" The Doctor yelled, backing away from his wife as they materialised, well, wherever they were.

"Your job, seeing as you haven't got a clue what's going on," she turned and looked at him as he began to argue but he gave up when he realised she was right. He sighed.

"Yeah, it's true, I don't," he admitted, looking to the ground in defeat. River smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey," she began, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay! It's totally fine!" He looked up and forced a smile.

"Really?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied, turning away from him and surveying the scene. They were stood in the control room of a space-ship that had some serious repair work going on. The space-ship that had, undoubtedly, caused the whole sky issue. She walked to a broken screen and flicked a switch. Nothing happened. "It's totally fine," she repeated, "'Cause I have no idea what's going on either." The Doctor laughed. He couldn't help it, he just couldn't believe how ridiculous this whole thing was. Four days ago, he was standing in the console room of his own ship fearing for his life with this woman stood across from him - the one person who could have helped. And now, standing here with her again, he was fearing for the life of the entire planet and neither of them had a clue what to do. He rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and walked over to her.

"Well whatever is happening, we'll get through it. We have to. You already did it once, remember?" River laughed.

"Yeah, I'm good like that," she smiled at him.

"Yeah, you are," he kissed her briefly, all the emotions he'd felt over the past few days rushing through him and he knew they they could fix this. He pulled away and examined the screen River had walked over to. "Right then, we better get to work!" He pulled out his screwdriver and got the monitor again. "Aha, so it's still got power!" he exclaimed, running over to the main circuit board of the ship that lay abandoned in the middle of the room.

"Which is good, yes?" River asked, following him.

"Hm, good-bad. Good because we have something to work with, bad because we don't know what it's currently doing," he flicked a few switches and pushed a few buttons and suddenly stopped. "Hang on," he asked, turning to her. "How did you know there was ship at the center of all of this? And how did you get the coordinates?" River shrugged.

"I didn't know. I guessed. I had to. If I hadn't have tried then -"

"Then the whole world would have been destroyed?" he finished. "You risked your life to save the world?" River shrugged.

"You do it all the time," she pointed out. He nodded and returned to the circuit board. After a few minutes of tinkering and running about and shouting commands at River, he thought he'd finally got it all sorted.

"Right, okay, I think I understand this. Well, maybe. It's a tricky one - I've never dealt with this level of technology before - but I think it's a simple case of too much power being sent to the engines which have therefore gone into reverse and formed a generator and, well, it's kind of forming some kind of spacial-atmospheric disposition thing..." River stared at him.

"You just made half of that up, didn't you?"

"Absolutely," he muttered, "BUT! If I can drain the power, reduce the energy going to the engines and shut off the generator, things should return to normal. Maybe. Well, that or -"

"Or what?"

"Well..." he looked at her and fixed his bow tie. "That or the drain of power may encourage the system to go into overdrive and speed up the whole process..." River looked as if she was about to interrupt and he rose his hands in defense. "But that's a very slight chance! Say... a 7.13% chance. Approximately. So the question is, Dr. Song," he walked towards where she was lent against a wall. "Do you trust me?" She smiled and moved his hair out of his eyes.

"About as much as you trust me," she replied. He smiled that goofy smile of his.

"That'll have to do!" he exclaimed, lifting a lever behind her. The whole room started to rumble. "GERONIMO!"


	8. Golden Glow

There was a crash. An explosion. Fire and broken metal surrounded River and The Doctor. The Timelord clambered to his feet, trying to work out what had gone wrong and what - if anything - had gone right. He looked across the flames and saw that the majority of the control room had been destroyed, but the flashing lights on his sonic screwdriver told him he had successfully shut down the main power supply. He let out a sigh of success and turned to announce the news to his wife who was trying to sit up, but she couldn't.

"Doctor -" she began, but the pain on her face made it clear that she was too badly injured to talk. He rushed to her side and removed his jacket to give to her to cushion her head.

"River? River, no, don't leave me now, this can't happen now. You came to see me, remember? In the TARDIS? River!" he yelled at her as her eyes blinked in and out of consciousness. "Godammit, River, we didn't come this far for you to die now, not like this!" River let out a shaky laugh.

"Who said I'm dying?" she managed. Her hand went to his face and he held her close.

"Let me help you," The Doctor said, breaking the silence. River's eyes snapped open.

"No. You can't. This isn't -"

"How it's supposed to work, I know. But you're not supposed to die here, either. So let me help you." River tried to argue, but she wasn't strong enough. She nodded into his chest, giving into defeat.

"Okay," she mumbled, "just this once." He smiled sadly and placed both hands on her back where she had been hit by the exploding wall as he realised the dress she was wearing was oddly familiar. There was a golden glow as the huon energy rushed from his body into hers, the exchange weakening him but bringing life to her. After a few moments, River shrugged him away. "Okay, sweetie, that's more than enough," she said, sounding much stronger already. The Doctor smiled at her, exhausted, and stayed sat on the ground as she stood. She removed her belt to allow herself more room to breath, gun and hallucinogenic lipstick attached, and dropped it to the ground. "Ooh, that's much better!" she laughed, tossing her hair off of her shoulders. "Right then. How do we get out of here?" The Doctor loosened his bow tie as he prepared to unravel some elaborate escape plan, but was disrupted by a large growl. River stepped closer to her husband. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed, looking around for a possible source of the noise.

"GET DOWN!" The Doctor yelled, grabbing for River's gun. He had noticed a movement through the flames and was ready to shoot, but River was slightly in the way. She turned around rather than ducked, about to ask what was going on, but The Doctor had already fired. River's eyes opened wider than they had ever done before, and she jumped to the left to avoid the bullet but she was too late. It scraped her side and she hit the ground. "RIVER!" he cried, getting to his feet and running to her despite the exhaustion. "River, are you... Damn it, River!" She was still conscious, but the contact with the ground had knocked her about a bit. Not to mention the bullet wound. "It was now," he muttered to himself. He shook his head and placed his hands on the wound, ready to heal her again, but she snapped.

"No! Don't you dare! You've already helped me enough today, Doctor! Anymore and you'll be killing yourself! You won't have any more regeneration energy to give! Don't be foolish!" she turned from him.

"Then go to me. In the past. I'll help you then," he said quickly, understanding things. But something different happened this time. River said no.

"I can't let you keep doing this," she said, shaking her head. "I can't let you use your life to save mine."

"BUT I CAN'T LOSE YOU!" The Doctor, yelled, crying. River closed her eyes, suppressing inevitable tears.

"You won't have to lose me," she said quietly. "You just have to let me go."

"I -"

"Shh," River whispered. "It's okay. Just remember to... Remember to look after them. They're my parents after all." The Doctor nodded, promising what he could never promise, and kissed her forehead. She let the tears come now, silent tears that were to be her last.

"River," The Doctor began, but she silenced him with a kiss.

"I know," she replied as she broke away. "I've always known." And that was River's last song. The Doctor held her body close, tears falling on to her face. He took a deep breath and willed himself not to cry out, though his body was screaming at him. He looked down at her face through blurred eyes and let his lips meet hers for the last time, the saltiness of tears mixing with the familiar sensation of her kiss.

Then something impossible happened. An golden shine surrounded them both as he kissed her, and River did something marvelous. She breathed. The Doctor pulled away from the kiss, stunned and not quite sure what was going on.

"But- You can't- You-" he mumbled as River sat up. She smiled at him.

"Seems the amount of energy you gave me back there really was more than enough," River laughed as she cried. The Doctor pulled her in to a tight embrace and whispered in her ear.

"A small golden glow can well and truly brighten up even the darkest of days."


End file.
